Field Tripped
by howlers
Summary: Travel back in time when Scott and Stiles were only in the fourth grade. The story begins on a field trip, one where Stiles decides his map is the better map. When the boys have seemed to have stuck gold, they find something a lot more interesting.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1 : Regulation**

 _[disclaimer ; few of the following characters original characters. property rights belong to the mtv tv show TEEN WOLF.]_

 _[this story is set in early April of 2006. Both Scott and Stiles are 10 years of age. (in mind that Stiles' birthday is in late April, and Scott's is in late August).]_

Scott gripped the seat in front of him. The brown, cheap leather warm under his touch from how much he'd been worrying on it, the lovely backlash of body heat and all. Not more than two minute ago, their teacher had called out that they were almost there. Of course, to a bunch of ten year olds 'almost there' still felt like an eternity. Scott was no different - they'd been on this bus for far too long. He could barely imagine what it must have felt like to Stiles who wasn't known for his controlled behavior even in the best environments.

And Like Scott had started to imagine, things were not going alright for the boy. He'd climbed up on his seat far too many times to count, riling up students and poking his head out the bus windows, before trying to make some sort of game up to keep himself from dying from a fire of energy that was causing him to want to run faster than the bus outside. He'd started to pick off parts of the torn bus seat, and throw them out the window and try to hit the cars next to him. He found a penny on the floor and did the same thing, and it hit the car behind them, which caused a bit of a commotion amongst him and the teachers.

You can imagine how quickly Stiles got stopped. From his desired seat next to Scott, he was quickly removed and sat next to a chaperone at the front of the bus. It was bad enough being in a seat for longer than he wanted to ever be in a single place at one time, and now he couldn't be with Scott!? Course, only a few kids were playing his games with him, and Scott wasn't one of those kids, but it didn't matter. Stiles tried to stand on his knees in his seat to look back and see Scott, but the Chaperon kept him down in his seat. Stiles glared at the woman, not even sure who it was, before looking from the side of the seat, where he could see Scott's shoes. He was almost completely in the back, and Stiles could have tried to yell back at him, but what were the chances he would hear him over the other kids talking and singing on the bus.

Stiles sighed, looking at the Chaperone beside him, and crossing his arms. "Are we there yet!?" Stiles complained, sinking into his seat, and moving around to try to get up on his knees again, but the Chaperone simply continued to push him down on the seat. "I promise I won't throw things out the window again, can I please go sit by Scott again!?" Stiles complained.

"It wasn't just the throwing things out the windows. It was the standing on your seats, and throwing things at your classmates, and kicking the seat in front of you, and getting up from your seat, and pulling Carmen's hair, and putting your gum on the floor. Stiles, you're gonna sit here until we get there." The Chaperon had started.

Stiles groaned loudly, and then looked back to try and see Scott again. He noticed that toward the front of the bus was Lydia sitting next to another girl. They were talking about something that Stiles didn't know anything about, but the boy turned an ear in to listen. He leaned forward in his seat, too far until he fell right back off the seat, and then flew forward as the bus came to a rushed stop. Stiles laughed nervously as he picked himself up, and a chaperone took hold of his arm again, and then brought him back to his seat next to Scott. "Make sure he doesn't get up, alright." At least they could trust Scott.

Stiles smiled. "Hi buddy! That woman is so mean." Stiles said, rubbing his arm after being gripped really hard. "I didn't even do anything!" Stiles stated. The bus continued to run forward, traffic picking up a bit.

"You put a crack in that person's window with the penny, Stiles," Scott tried to remind him. "And nearly fell out of your seat standing up...five times." Even that kind of seemed like an understatement.

"Yeah, but that's it, I don't think that was that bad. I didn't _mean_ to put the crack on her window. . . or was it a man I didn't look. Aaaaand I didn't fall out of my seat, I just _almost_ did." Stiles argued.

"They could get in a lot of trouble if you got hurt, Stiles. Remember your dad almost didn't want to sign the slip to begin with but you promised him you'd behave. _I_ promised him you wouldn't get into a lot of trouble too." Scott admitted. His face held a level of seriousness, that no ten year would have been able to muster other than Scott McCall.

The awkward boy fell just a tad bit silent, before guilt caused him to pass the blame. "I wouldn't be in trouble if that lady wasn't so mean. She's like, extra mean! What am I supposed to do on the bus? We've been on here for like a million hours." Stiles complained. Hyperbole was a common language for the sarcastic boy.

"Try counting the metal bumps on the floor," Scott suggested in a helpful tone.

"Knowing that wouldn't benefit me!" Stiles said. "No one cares how many metal bumps are on the floor. I just want to get there already. I don't like bus rides, or car rides, or boring stuff." Stiles continued.

"I know. But think about all the fun things we'll get to do when we get there," the ten year old said, trying to cheer up his friend. "Maybe we'll even find some real gold!"

Stiles' eyes widened and he looked over to his friend. "Oh, we'll find real gold, alright." the boy said with intention, looking around the bus.

There really wasn't much to do on a bus. In fact, there was almost nothing to do on a bus. Stiles could think of a million things he could improvise to do, but it seemed that everything he tried, got him deeper into trouble. The boy started to think of a few ways to leave his seat, with out anyone finding out. Then it came to him. "Do you wanna play a game, right now?" Stiles asked.

"No, you always cheat," Scott grumbled with a small frown popping up at the reminder.

"I do not! Hear me out! Okay, so the game is we try to see how many seats we can crawl under without anyone saying we're under the seats, we'll go one at a time, and then see who can go the most. Okay!" It sounded brilliant to Stiles. And being hidden would keep him out of his teacher's sight.

"...have you looked under the seats? It's dirty," Scott said, his frown turning into a disgusted grimace.

Dirty? Stiles scoffed at the word. "It's not that bad! It's not like there is poop on the floor." Stiles joked. "I remember one time I peed on the bus, but not poop ever. It's not that bad, I'll go first."

Stiles pushed himself down onto the floor, but before he could get under the seat in front of him, someone caught his arm again.

"What do you think you're doing?" their teacher said, who had no repositioned herself right next to Scott and Stiles.

Stiles turned his attention to her and groaned. "We're just gonna play a game. Is that so bad?" Stiles asked.

"If it involves moving from your seat then yes." the woman said.

"I just wanna crawl on the floor, that's not gonna bother anyone!" Stiles said.

"It's dangerous for you to leave your seat, now sit down, and stay still for the rest of the bus ride."

Stiles groaned, climbing back up in his seat, and turning to Scott. "How am I supposed to stay in my seat, that's like impossible." Stiles complained. "Are we there yet?"

"No," Scott said as he looked around. "But I think we're almost there. Hey, look at that old building!"

Old would have been an understatement all things considering. It looked turn of the century at youngest and there were parts of it that were missing. yet from what they could faintly make out it had been mostly made out of strong pine wood. The wood, of course, had been aged and weathered to a dingy color but somehow that made it all the better.

A few rows down there was a renovated building, a renovation that tried to keep it looking old obviously. It had the word "Mercantile" on it and Scott wondered if it still worked - well, worked in the sense of selling things to people. But what was really interesting was the building on the other side that they could only catch a glimpse of. It was an old Sheriff's station built onto a small hill. From what Scott could see as they passed it looked like they had a whole noose set up out back. His wide eyed expression made the question in his mind obvious - Did they still hang people?

Stiles couldn't keep himself in his seat as they started upon the scenery, He pushed past Scott to see out the window, and with wide eyes he smiled. "Wow! We're here now! No more Stupid bus!" Stiles exclaimed excitedly. Stiles moved back to his seat, and started to gather his backpack up, and then stood up from his seat to move to the front of the bus, but the teacher caught his arm again.

"Not so fast, Stilinski, sit back down." she told him, pulling him back to his seat, and forcing him back into it.

Stiles glared at the teacher before pushing past Scott to look out the window again. "What if we find old tools, and money and stuff! We can see if there is gold under some of the untouched stuff." Stiles said excitedly.

"Stiles, the untouched places are untouched for a reason," Scott said; ever the voice of reason and responsibility. "So let's keep it that way okay? You don't want to get into trouble and have them call your m-dad right?"

Stiles flinched quickly to Scott when he stumbled over the word, his heart still sore, and emotions still tightly strung.

Four short months before, Stiles lost his mom to a slow moving disease, FTD, or Frontal-temporal Dementia. Because of this tragic event, the boy had been sent into a long period of turmoil, and despair. Panic attacks, nightmares, and uncontrollable levels of emotion had consumed the boy.

These were all things Scott knew, and because of it, he'd felt a little stunned, knowing he'd said the wrong thing.

"I can do whatever I want." Stiles stated, working to avoid potential breakdowns. Tears threatened Stiles' eyes but he pretended like nothing was wrong. He forced a smile, and forced a laugh, holding on tightly to his backpack. "We'll just find gold somewhere else." Stiles said.

Scott's grin was apologetic as they tried to push past what was almost the biggest verbal blunder of the month. "We will. What are you going to do when we find some?"

Hopefully this was a distracting enough conversation for the ten, nearly eleven, year old boy as they started to file out of the bus. After that would be one of those head counts and whole lecture on what they were going to do for the day. One which Scott would listen to as best he could and one that Stiles had no doubt already somehow memorized but wouldn't actually pay attention to.

"I'm gonna buy an Elephant." Stiles said, clearly sarcastic.

"But Stiles, what would you do with an Elephant?" Scott asked with wide, innocent eyes. Yes he knew what sarcasm was but he also knew this was the best way to distract his best friend.

"Enter it into the next Elephant show case competition, and win more money." Stiles continued, jumping of the bus, and swinging his backpack over his shoulders.

Scott followed suit, jumping off the last step as well instead of stepping down. As he walked beside Stiles to make room for the other students, he asked: "How are you going to feed it? They're massive."

"I'll buy one that doesn't eat or poop." Stiles continued. "Or I'll just feed it all the homework Mrs. Clark gives us, that way I can tell her my Elephant ate my homework, and she'll have to believe me."

From the look that they got by the teacher as she passed, Scott doubted that was going to go over well. Especially considering the fact that Scott knew there was no way Stiles could buy one that didn't eat or poop - at least not one that was healthy anyways. Eating and going to the bathroom were very important parts of life - he couldn't remember the name of the bodily system at the moment but he was sure it was an important sounding name too.

"Where would it live?" Scott brought up as everyone started to line up so they could start the trek to where they'd be learning about the gold rush first hand.

Stiles was getting kind of annoyed now, and sighed. "I don't know, In my closet." He said, following the class to where they would begin. He let his eyes wander a little, and it was then when he thought he saw something shiny off in the distance. "What's that?" Stiles said, stopping in his trek to try to get a better look.

He watched the group keep walking forward, and leaned over a post with a rope that said 'Do Not Cross' on it, and leaned over it to try and get a better look, but when the Sun didn't reflect off of it the way it did before, it stopped shining. Stiles took a few steps back and saw it shining again. "There is something over there." Stiles said, pointing to where he saw the thing sparkling. The class had gone up just a little ways ahead now, but Stiles stayed back to try and figure out what it was.

"Stiles..."

Scott's concern probably didn't factor into everything that Stiles had planned for the momentarily shiny object in the distance. In fact, considering that there was a roped off area telling people (students in particular) to stay away from that area it was probably as good as gift wrapped. Stiles always had a touch and go relationship with what they should and shouldn't do. Which was ironic considering that _he_ was the Sheriff's son and all.

"We should just stay with the group," Scott said in a 'please don't drag me into the woods again' type of voice.

Stiles wanted to check it out, and he could see that Scott was skeptical about it. "I wanna see what it is really quick! If you wanna catch up to the rest you can, I'll be right there in just a sec." stiles said, jumping over the ropes, and then looking around to make sure he was in the clear before walking off toward the shiny object. He had an idea about where it was, and he just took off, no questions asked in that direction, walking kind of speedily.

Scott looked back to the group for only a moment before following after the older boy. It wasn't like he was going to let Stiles wonder off in an unfamiliar area by himself after all. Especially considering that Scott was going to get partially blamed for it if they were caught regardless if he actually went or not. This way at least he could keep an eye on his friend...and see what that shiny object had been.


	2. Chapter 2

Stiles started off in a jog, looking back to notice Scott was following, and was mindful to stay back enough to be with him. The boy did have asthma after all. Stiles could see the shiny thing getting closer, and his eyes widened, and his heart quickened.

Scott finally caught up with him, though he kept looking back over his shoulder every once in awhile to see if the teacher was following them. He almost imagined she'd come up with like a pitch fork or something just as frightening.

Stiles waved Scott over and looked down into a small pit where there was a large reflection from the sun. "Look! Down there! See! That's where it is! Come on!" Stiles said, cautiously climbing down into the pit, and looking up to make sure Scott was following.

Scott looked down to where Stiles was pointing. It really did look like a shiny rock. But he wasn't sure if it would be gold. Why would someone leave all the gold out there? He was sure that there had been plenty of other classes going through the area. Not to mention the fact that someone had sectioned this place off. Why wouldn't they have taken the gold out if that was the case?

Still, the curious optimist in him wanted to believe that Stiles was right. That they had just found a whole lot of gold when no one else had. So he followed after his hyper friend, trying to get a better look at the formation that Stiles was talking about.

"How are we going to get it out of here?" Scott asked having heard that gold weighed a lot.

Making it all the way into the bottom of the pit, Stiles smiled and then brushed off his clothes, and headed closer to the rock. "We'll just take some of it! I have a shovel in my backpack! It's one of those little ones, and we can use it to break some of it off. And we can just buy something small, like a new video game, or something." Stiles said with delight in his eyes, reaching into his backpack for the small garden shovel he brought.

Scott looked at the tools. He wasn't sure if he should be afraid or impressed that Stiles had brought something to dig stuff up with so his expression showed both of those things. Instantly he started to empty out his own backpack of the things that he'd brought - lunch, water, tiny backpack first aid kit, stuff like that.

"If we put all my stuff in your bag, then we can bring back a lot more than if we try to put it all in one bag and worry about squishing our sandwiches," Scott reasoned out.

Stiles stopped to think for a second. "Ooooooor, we can eat our sandwiches now... Then we can take some back in both bags!" Stiles admitted! That was a genius idea. "Do you wanna keep going farther and see if there is better stuff?" Stiles asked, looking off at a couple different shiny spots in the distance.

Scott shook his head. "If we wait too long the teacher is going to notice we're gone. Then she's going to come out here and catch us and make us leave what we found here because we're not supposed to be out here."

Stiles sighed, and shook his head. "No on is going to notice, there were like four buses full of students. They're not going to notice two kids gone out of like four hundred. Come on. Maybe we'll find something better than gold!" Stiles said with a bright smile. Walking further into the pit into where the drop off went into a small forest. "What if we find an old tribe of settlers who still punish people by hanging them! Or what if we find like a deer or something!"

"There are deer back home in the forest," Scott called out to Stiles, despite already starting to walk to keep up with him. "Stiles, come on let's just go back and take that one!"

Scott was torn between continuing to follow his friend and getting back to the group. There were a lot of fun things they were supposed to learn how to do today and then actually get to do them. They couldn't do that if they weren't with the rest of their class. Besides that, he couldn't help but wonder what would happen if they got lost out in this area. It wasn't a place that either of them had any clue about - not like back home. They were more than likely to get lost then they were to find anything better than the one shiny rock they'd already found.

Stiles ignored Scott's request, his mind already set on finding something better. Stiles climbed over a large rock, and continued into wooded area, looking around and reaching into his backpack for the shovel again. "We'll just mark our spots. With the shovel." Stiles said digging a little hole in front of the tree and then marking up the tree a tad with the shovel as well. "Scott trust me. We'll be back before anyone notices we're gone."the boy said with a smile.

Somehow, that smile wasn't comforting. In fact, Scott was like 95 percent sure that the direct opposite was going to happen. Stiles might have been smart in some things but he overestimated his own sneaking abilities at every turn. Especially when he said 'trust me'.

Stiles reached out to Scott to try and reassure him. "Come on there is nothing to worry about. They won't notice. This will be fun!" Stiles tried to pursue. He was normally pretty good at changing Scott's mind. He was wondering what was holding him back this time.

Scott tried to look happy for Stiles' benefit but he still couldn't help but feel like they were about to get in a lot of trouble. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say Stiles."

Pushing down the voice of reason he settled into the fact that there was no way he was going to convince his friend to get out of the woods without whatever prize he deemed the most worthy. Scott hoped they found it soon. He already wasn't sure which way they'd come from considering that Stiles hadn't exactly been marking every tree as they walked deeper and deeper into the forest.

"Where are we going?" Scott asked as he looked around.

The area wasn't at all familiar and they'd stopped seeing shiny rocks at least three minutes ago.

Stiles shrugged. He wasn't really following anything he was just wandering. He kept pressing onward though looking around for anything interesting. "Let's just look around something interesting." Stiles said, jumping over rocks and logs and marking up the trees on their way.

"Like what?" Scott asked in a curious tone as they plunged deeper and deeper which meant they were getting farther from their school group.

Stiles shrugged. "Left items, cool looking rocks, arrowheads." Stiles started "Dead stuff!" He smiled, as he continued deeper into the forest.

"What if we get into trouble being out here?" Question 1...followed by question 2: "What if we _run_ into trouble out here?"

Stiles scoffed at the idea of danger. He shook his head at the idea of trouble. Nothing could stand in the way of the boy hungry for adventure. Stiles turned to look back st Scott and then shook his head. "If we get into trouble, I'll take all the blame, I'll tell them I forced you to come with me. And if we find trouble out here, I got my shovel, I can take them, no sweat. there is nothing to worry about Scott, really. We'll be fine." Stiles stated with confidence. Weather or not it was merited, that was the real question. Deep down, Stiles was kind of afraid of finding something that could rip them apart (which, considering they were in bear and mountain lion country, wasn't that impossible), but he didn't care if a teacher came after them angrily. He was already on their bad side, how much more could they possibly hate him? He'd visited the principle's office enough times to be on a first name basis, and Teresa wasn't that bad. "I'll bet we can find something the whole class will be jealous of!" Stiles said with a Devious smile

Scott sighed and hung his head. Stiles was going to rush into danger and he didn't seem to mind that at all. One of these days he was going to get them into more trouble than they could get out of. Then one of them was going to have to deal with it or live with the consequences. Probably for life - if they lived passed this escapade at least.

A long while later, so long that Scott was pretty sure their teachers were freaking out by now, Scott tried to stop Stiles. It was way past noon and by this point they had wandered so far through the wooded area that _everything_ looked the same to Scott. Thankfully they hadn't been running, just walking mostly, so he wasn't having to deal with a lot of breathing issues but that didn't mean they were in the clear. He'd forgotten which direction they'd come from, how many turns they'd made, and pretty much everything else. They were, in a word, completely lost and he hadn't exactly taken his mom up on the boy scout offer.

Stiles turned around to try and remember which direction they'd come from, and wasn't entirely sure which direction they'd come from. Stiles shrugged, turning back to Scott, and continued forward. From the corner of his eye he saw a small cave and he smiled, walking toward it. "Do you have a flashlight?" Stiles asked looking back at Scott before reaching into his backpack to see if he brought one. "Wait! I got one!" Stiles said wrapping his hand around his flashlight and clicking it on, before looking inside the cave, and inside glittered and gleamed with hems of many different colors and shapes. "Scott! We made it to heaven!" Stiles stated with a large toothy smile.

Scott looked around and smiled as well. It really was neat to see. Everything seemed to have all sorts of shine to it and when he went to look at it, well...feel it, Scott felt some of the gold break off into his hand. That wasn't real gold then. But it didn't make it any less wondrous to see the small inlet in the wall.

"You were right," Scott admitted as he sat down on the ground to rest his feet.


End file.
